Honestly, I don’t know how to write about a show like FLC. For a show so popularly touted across the community, it’s never really been on my radar as anything majorly important. I knew it was ‘weird’ and I knew it had inspired the creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but other than that- a total mystery.
I’m watching it now, so I get to try and define it. Let’s see…
An apathetic middle-school kid called Naota hangs out with his older brother’s girlfriend Mamimi, who’s far too touchy. Out of nowhere, he’s attacked by a crazy alien on a Vespa, who assaults him with her guitar. Shortly after, a huge bump like a unicorn horn starts growing on his head. This horn becomes two giant fighting robots. One dies, the other survives. It and the alien, who calls herself Haruko, start living in Naota’s house as housekeepers. Mysteries abound. What is the nature of the robots, the bumps in Naota’s head? Is Haruko really an alien? What’s the deal with Mamimi? Is it a genius allegory of burgeoning maturity, or is it just nonsense? You decide.
And writing about it now, just how do you talk about a show like FLCL? It’s a complete oddity: kind of frustrating and kind of endearing, with a healthy dose of nostalgia and typical Gainax tomfoolery. It’s also beautiful. That’s one thing I’m sure of: FLCL is a beautiful, beautiful show. The lines just sort of…melt, as the characters move. Yoshiyuki Sadamoto’s designs are blunt, with the scratchy pencilling in the eyes adding dynamic emotion to the characters. It’s all motion: exaggerated motion, subtle motion, sudden cuts between scenes, camera motion, motion between different styles…It simply won’t be pinned down, in more ways than one.
Well, I appreciate unconventionality. But unconventionality for the sake of unconventionality- hmmm, that’s a tricky one. In the hands of a clumsier team built on shakier foundations, FLCL could have been a pretentious mess. But it’s 100% genuine, largely because of the warm, beating heart driving its frenzied machine. Just because the show is irreverent doesn’t make it afraid to slow down and edge…edge…ever so slowly… into the complexities that seem to be hidden behind the insanity. For example, what’s up with Mamimi? She’s far too old- for the uniform she wears and the kid she hangs out with. But the second episode reveals circumstances that change the way we see her. When they surface, Naota realises that Mamimi’s world exists outside of his periphery and there’s something bigger, something that he can’t control. The big kids have problems too. And the little kids can’t understand, because they’re too busy admiring/fearing the big kids. Naota acts tough but in the end, he’s just a kid. There are things far beyond his horizon that he has yet to understand. FLCL tiptoes right into this territory and pulls right out just as quickly. That’s alright, though. If this show is about nostalgia, it would make sense for it to be a little teasing, dance about reality a bit. After all, who was truly honest in their youth? As the second episode says, “Where does the truth end and the lies begin?”
Am I making any sense? I think I got carried away a bit. Am I reading too much into it? I think I am, and besides, it’s no fun to rationalise the magic. But it’s also fun to pick at the brains of something so absurd, and I do think there’s something there. It could be great and it could be mediocre, but it certainly won’t be dull.
FLCL contradicts and congratulates itself- a harmony between its odd, capricious parts.
Catch a Falling Star 